


Watch Them Fall

by Nameless_Knight



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Comedy, Gen, Poking Fun at Blizzard Writing, Shooting Stuff, Team-Ups, old soldiers never die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-08-11 11:46:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7890721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nameless_Knight/pseuds/Nameless_Knight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soldier 76 follows a signal coming from a defunct Overwatch base.  One he's certain could only have come from one other man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Watch Them Fall

Jack Morrison wasn't of mind to get crushed by a couple tons of debris again. The man now know publicly as Soldier: 76 ducked down a staircase leading deeper into Watchpoint: Madagascar as the station shuddered underneath a barrage of missiles launched from a Talon gunship dead set on wiping out any trace of Overwatch from the planet. The deeper sub-levels were reinforced enough to shrug off hits from the heaviest of Omnic guns. A couple hovercraft rockets weren't gonna breach it so easily.

The walls still buckled as he descended.

This staircase would be buried under the upper portions of the base soon enough. Another gravemarker for Overwatch, and a mausoleum for the Talon agents already dealt with.

The base signal came in from both a station and channel that was five-years offline. Someone was either desperate or baiting a trap and he'd be enough to take care of both situations.

Trap turned more likely when he scouted out the watchpoint's perimeter. Talon's black-clad goons swarmed the place like it was some piece of carrion. The automated defenses had been decommissioned with the organization and all the databanks wiped. They wouldn't find anything here they liked.

A brief exchange of firepower later and he had a dozen prisoners half-conscious. He was all set to work on getting intel when the roof came crashing down. Stealth-tech and silent running hide three aircraft.

Sloppy.

For them. The Heavy Pulse Rifle packed enough punch to pierce their armor, and followed by a trio of helix rockets, two of the fliers were quickly knocked out of commission.

Third, being a sensible sort, had backed off and unleashed hell.

He reached the end of the hall. Before he could pry open the door another quake rocked the building. Pipes and walls began to break under the thunderous barrage above. Small sparks of metal striking metal and steam shot out.

Steam that shouldn't be here. Aside from power to keep doors shut and the emergency signal, the Watchpoint shouldn't have running utilities.

Someone was operating in the base. It wasn't Talon, or a half-dozen auto-turrets would have cautioned his approach. Someone still fighting the good fight, he hoped.

He pried open the elevator door. The shaft was dark, and empty. Cable in the middle wobbling in conjunction with the building falling apart above. The ground floor elevator would be even worse off. He leapt in, gripped the cable, and slide down as the base above fell apart.

He slammed down on top of the elevator car proper. The rooftop hatch was already opened so he wasted no time slipping inside.

Clear.

The elevator doors were forced open, sabotaged intentionally. Dull light flood in from the room attached.

There were no sounds, save the humming of the lights. The room beyond was just the entryway before the bunker proper. But even the massive blast door was just askew as the prior. Same caution he approached it.

Nothing. Not that he expected a full security contingent awaiting him at the checkpoint, but the lights being on cast a more telling glow than being off.

The underground base was larger than the above-ground set-up. Multiple entries, even more specific exits. It'd seen a lot of usage during the Omnic Crisis and beyond and, aside from Talon reducing it to rubble above, didn't have the wear-and-tear expected with age.

It wasn't just being used by whoever was here ahead of him, it was being actively maintained.

He followed the floorplan as best he recalled. Armory, comms, medical.

Residential was where he finally found other signs of life. Gunshots, explosions and completely out-of-place maniacal laughter.

Then the only sounds were his boots hitting the floor and the door.

"Freeze!" he shouted. His pulse rifle leveled with the back of the black-hood of the man surrounded by the bodies of half a dozen familiar agents.

"I think that's someone else's schtick," came the reply with a familiar gravelly voice. No face came to fore as the target turned around and revealed a bone-white mask obscuring his head.

"Gabriel."

"Not a name I'm familiar with."

"You're the only lunatic who runs around with two shotguns."

Deep, throaty laughter twisted by the mask answered back. "You've been out of the game for six years old man, things change."

"You're older than I am."

"Death is ageless."

"For God's sake Gabriel," Jack pushed, "you once woke me up at three a.m. blubbering Sheila broke your heart. I'm your kid's godfather. Hell," he lowered his aim, "you probably got inspiration for that ridiculous costume from some sketch he did."

Gabriel Reyes' black-gloved hands didn't bother reaching for his guns. "Rich coming from you, you ridiculous old man. Soldier: 76? The raid at Grand Mesa with no fatalities? You might as well announce to the world Jack Morrison is alive."

"Not until those who smeared that name are brought to justice."

"One of them's right here." Gabriel pointed a thumb at himself and Jack could well-imagine his lips growing into a smirk behind that mask.

"Don't feed me that bullshit, Gabriel," he retorted. "I've followed the press releases for 'Reaper', if you wanted out of this room you'd be gone already. If you wanted me dead you'd have fired."

"I want to savor the kill," he said as drawn out and fake as possible.

"And I want a bottle of Jack Daniels but they aren't storehouse regulation. Talk."

"You're senile, old man."

"Someone triggered the emergency signal equipped on this base. One only the Overwatch and Blackwatch Commander's could send, or receive. And now I find you here first, in a bunker deep enough underground to stop any transmissions from escaping. You wanted me here, and if it was to put me down the whole building would have been wired to explode. Talk."

Gabriel stared from beyond the mask… gave up, shrugged and said, "Can't play along for a damn second can you?"

"I'm too old to be playing around."

"Old? Please, I look like a rotted rope under this ridiculous get-up."

"The hell happened to you?"

"Some sort of dark matter leak when the HQ blew up. I got a fresh bath of anti-matter while still being matter. Ziegler did her best, but the nanites only do so much. Now I steal 'souls'." He threw out some air-quotes with his fingers.

"So, that's where the Reaper thing comes from?"

"Yeah, but Talon's upper-levels buy it. Even said Omnics have souls and nearly broke 'character' holding back a real laugh."

"So, Hawk's real then?" Talon had always been too persistent and dogged to just be funded by one source.

"They've got their Talons in everything, Jack," said Gabriel. "Governments, Omnics, Corporations. I sure as hell wasn't the first Overwatch agent they turned. Though I think I'm the only one that played double agent."

"Too well." He glanced down at the pile of dead Blackwatch agents at Gabriel's feat. Each one of them was part of Gabriel's "coup" six years ago, and had vanished along with nearly everyone else involved.

"They jumped the gun over my orders. I wanted them all rounded up for us to grab but…"

Hell.

The firefight in the HQ was a bigger mess than anything in the Omnic Crisis. When all the Blackwatch agents started shooting, all the Overwatch agents started shooting right back. Including both Commanders. All the publicized shit with Blackwatch and Gabriel's resentments. At the time, Jack didn't think twice that it was a coup.

Only when he wasn't Jack did he realize it didn't add up. Gabriel could be an asshole, but the man wasn't a villain.

"So, now I'm playing the over-the-top vengeful villain and Hawk buys it hook, line and sinker." Gabriel snatched something out of his pants and tossed it over. A data stick. "That's everything I've managed to scrounge up. Including the process used on Lacroix."

Ziegler might be able to break the brainwashing then. Jack nodded and stored it securely. He clicked back the slide on his rifle. "You ready for the show?"

"I've had plenty of time to work on my acting."

Wasted rounds, near-hits enough to draw blood. Bodies—traitors given the final peace. The report to Hawk would be the Blackwatch assets were taken out by the vengeful Soldier: 76.

They'd know for sure it was Jack Morrison coming for them.

Good. Let them run scared. Let them post their bounties and move their money. They'd stick out like a hawk in a city.

Talon and Hawk's days were numbered. He'd sure as hell watch them fall this time.

* * *

**If the Zerg and the guy who cleaves planets in half can be good guys then Reaper sure as hell will be.**


	2. Grand

Ana Amari settled her scope in on the target. A facility a good few kilometers away from her was clear as a book right next to her. So she did a little reading. The box read "tyonozophan". The building logo was for "Phoenix Pharmaceutical".

The former was one of those little things that ingrained in your mind without you knowing. An odd name she recalled from one of Doctor Zeiglar's lectures. The latter was an organization with suspected ties to Talon.

Coincidence and Talon didn't go together. Tyonozophan was an ingredient in "Radiant", one of the drugs that popped up after the decriminalization following the Omnic Crisis. When the old drug trade dried up, a new well of drugs was just dug up. It would be at least a decade before Radiant and its kins' effects were studied enough for governments to give their backing. Years of ripe profits for Talon and its subsidiaries. And when Radiant was clear, there would be some other new drug ready to go.

That was, if Talon was still around.

She swept her scope back over the security detail covering the truck unloading its cargo. High-cost facilities like this employed dozens of private sector blacksuits. Even a few Omnics were getting in on the business. Half of them listlessly patrolled about with their Type-99 Tranq guns on display with the other half half standing sentry at every entrance point to the facility. Each guard and every door and window were tracked by security cameras. Some obvious, a great deal no larger than a pin's head.

Talon didn't want anyone getting in without being seen. She had no infiltration equipment or backup. She could pick off targets well enough with her Biotix Rifle, but putting down rent-a-cops wouldn't accomplish a thing. She'd settle for getting the recon to Jack then.

The truck finished its unloading and rumbled back to the road. And stopped.

The windows were blacked out, she couldn't see why the driver was suddenly stopping. But the security force were riled up too. The type-99s came out, all of them, aimed at something in front of the truck Ana's angle couldn't pinpoint.

Whatever it was, unnerved the security enough to unload. The recoilless guns peppering the unseen target.

To no effect as their panicked expressions dictated.

They stepped back, still firing to no effect.

And in stepped a view from the past.

The giant shining armor of Reinhardt Wilhelm.

The tranq rounds bounced off his plate like spitballs. Maybe her own AP tranqs could pierce it, but the security didn't have a chance.

So one of the sentries brought out something a great deal larger and illegal. A Stormcraft Revolver designed for Omnic warmachines. Even Reinhardt's armor couldn't withstand that for long.

But that was why he had his shield. When he first felt the effects of the heavy duty magnum rounds he spun with the energy projection towards the attacker. It blocked it well enough, but the covering fire from the dozens of tranq rounds were slowly sapping the shield's strength.

Ana checked the conditions (wind, humidity, curvature). She'd shot further in worse, but her tranq rounds were lighter. Maybe too light to be accurate at the required distance.

Reinhardt dropped his shield to swing at some of the guards. His wild strength sent the closest flying—incapacitated. The shield went back up. But the cracks were forming in the shield.

Ana double-checked her shot, took aim and held her breath.

She squeezed the trigger.

The slight blip of recoil went through her arms as the shot went. Only a whispered cough echoed from the barrel.

She counted the seconds for it to land.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Si—the guard with the magnum collapsed to the ground.

Five point five seconds to land. Predicting the shots would be a slightly difficult.

She switched her firing mode.

No one was hurting family on her watch ever again.

The guards went into a panicked frenzy. Reinhardt advanced against their broken formation.

Ana fired.

The dart on Reinhardt and the nano-solution patched up the bullet holes in him and the armor.

He was too focused on what was in front of him to turn. But the shift in his step made it clear he knew exactly what was going on.

She focused on the stationary targets (entrance guards, cameras) while Reinhardt took care of the majority of the rest.

The truck, paralyzed to this point, pulled back. The loading dock was walled in, the only way out was through Reinhardt.

That was a spectacularly awful idea.

The truck engine revved loud enough to echo all the way too Ana's ears. The hover-jets strained under the horsepower now filling them. The multi-ton truck charged at Reinhardt.

From when man first started marshalling cavalry with men on horses to the modern days or armored vehicles and airships. The cavalry always thought they had the advantage.

Reinhardt smashed that notion to smaller pieces than the truck.

The driver barely survived his cabin being cut in half because of the crash foam. The rest of the truck was not so lucky when half a ton of man and machine powered by a jumbo jet-calibur engine propelled itself through the vehicle.

Reinhardt wouldn't feel a thing through all his impact absorbers.

The driver would never touch a steering wheel willingly again.

She was out of targets to shoot at this range. Reinhardt could handle himself for the few minutes it would take to head over to him.

Ana stowed her gear and headed out of the room

At street level there were no sounds of sirens. No clamor of onlookers. The battle raging blacks away was well outside of anyone's attention.

It was a clear path on her "rental" to meet up with Reinhardt in the walled-in land of Phoenix. The outer gate (out of her earlier sight range) was shorn apart with his telltale signs.

The man himself had waited, grouping together every member of the security detail together.

She blocked the broken exit off with her vehicle and stepped up to him. "It's been a while, Reinhardt."

"Ana?" he sounded like a boy just seeing his family for the first time in years. He turned around and she could just imagine the giant grin he was giving her. "Ana it's been ages!" He rushed over to her, hammer out of hand and gave her a surprisingly gentle bearhug. "I never believed some Talon goon could get the better of you!"

She kept hidden that the Talon operative did get the better of her. Lacroix's shot was too good, even brainwashed. "Easy, Reinhardt, neither of us are as young as we used to be."

He gently let her down. "Ha, with you by my side I feel thirty years younger already!"

She flashed him a rare smile. "That's still older than the average of these guards. How'd you find this place?"

"Connected some dots. Some street gang was getting illegal arms from elsewhere, and elsewhere got drugs from Phoenix."

Sloppy of Talon to leave such a trail. Or perhaps… "A trap."

"It crossed my mind as well," he agreed. "But what knight doesn't confront his foe when challenged?"

He never changed. "How's Brigette doing?"

"Well, well, always keeps my armor working and me on target."

Save this time. "I've disabled the outside cameras, but they'll have dozens more inside. You ready?"

She had a mask, loose clothing and an entirely different type of rifle than her active days. Anyone who had a view of her wouldn't give away much.

There was no way for Reinhardt to ever hide.

He chuckled. "I was already prepared for this." He retrieved his hammer and took the lead. The backside of the loading dock. Out of her shot range. She dealt with the cameras as they advanced.

Reinhardt tore apart the ore and was met with a blistering hailstorm of automatic fire. His shield went up; their attackers went down. Lined up in a fire line and stationary. She should be so lucky to have such perfect targets moving in.

"You met anyone else from the old days?" Reinhardt asked between combats.

"Jack and Gabriel."

"Of course! How are they doing?"

"Jack's still Jack. Gabriel's…" No pleasant word to describe what she saw underneath that mask. "Looks like a zombie out of some Hollywood film."

"So the outside matches the inside now."

They advanced without trouble. Low-pay security like this couldn't stop the people who ended the Omnic Crisis. The security room offered little resistance and Ana scrubbed the video feeds and recordings. But there was no evidence if they'd been sent abroad already.

For a trap, this was remarkably poor.

It was only a factory, not any sort of significant management office. The security was too tight for that. There was some secret they'd overlooked.

And it was Reinhardt's hammer smashing into a wall in the cramped hallways that revealed it. An elevator. A close shot from the loading dock. Large enough for trucks, and Reinhardt.

They assembled a makeshift cover in the lift and descended.

"So," he broke the silence first, "have you told Fareeha, yet?"

The worst part of it all was being away from Fareeha. What could she say? Mommy had a good reasoning for abandoning you? Because she was tired of fights? Because watching people die got to her?

Then did nothing when Fareeha enlisted and proved herself.

"No," she cut the answer short. She had to change the subject. "It is surprising they haven't cut power to this elevator."

He extended an awkward pause before replying, "Yes, what kind of secret laboratory base is this? Every elevator in the Switzerland base could be toggled off from the security hub."

"They may as well announce this is a trap."

The elevator pinged. The doors opens. Ana ducked behind crates and shield. Her eye went to scope already zooming in on the thunderous storm of bullets already cracking Reinhardt's barrier. Three darts shot and the turret gunner was down.

Ana ducked.

The hail of other firepower swiftly depleted what remained of Reinhardt's shield and he ducked to the crates that just barely covered his frame.

"I count over twenty targets," he said. "And the turret."

"That was a bastion-unit gatling gun they have," she clarified for him. "It's been modified and bolted down."

"Three seconds of shielding when they retake it."

"I can squeeze off four rounds in that time. Closest targets first."

"Barrier's up."

Three seconds active, eight to recharge. The guards didn't have any explosives. One shot one every target out of cover. Little over a minute before they were all sleeping.

"The turret was a surprise but this is a remarkably poor attempt at defense," said Ana. She disarmed the guards before Reinhardt dragged them into a pile. "They may have a self-destruct in place and blame it on 'Overwatch' terrorists." Just the cowardly stripe they'd try.

"Why let us come so far, then?" he questioned. "Could simply blow base aboveground and save the below."

"I don't know."

With more caution they continued. Labs, filled with equipment, but never any people, or other security measures.

Barring another secret sublevel, they explored the whole floor in half an hour. "No staff. Only shipment documents. This building wasn't automated enough to require no staff."

"Early evacuation?"

It was a trap. No good use leaving valuable researchers in the way.

They returned to the elevator. They returned to the surface. They left without incident.

Nothing stopped them, nothing startled them. Save for the lack of retribution.

* * *

Unbeknown to either of the intruders, this specific operation had a unique security program. The air carried it. A small set of particular nanites that clung just deeply enough to stay over any casual attempts at removal. A set that emitted a specific set of harmless radiation. Rare, unknown to most, and detectable by any satellite under the control of Talon.

Wherever Ana Amari and Reinhardt Wilhelm went, Talon could find them.


	3. Misdirection

"Mr. Lindholm, welcome to Eagleheart Holdings' newest branch."

Torbjörn had little patience for this heat and the suit's pretentious platitudes. "Get your pitch over with." He didn't want to stand outside any longer.

The man shifted uneasily and stifled a cough with his hand. "Ahem, yes, very well, I thought to begin with a tour, but if you insist." The man led him into the courtyard through one of the doors nearby. Eagleheart's mercenaries were busy drilling, guarding or working on some vehicle or other.

Torbjörn rolled his eye. "I've already looked over your building myself. I don't need some tour that doesn't show off the military-grade defense turrets, blast doors and the multi-layer bunker underneath." The outer wall towers concealed enough firepower to stop a dedicated tank assault.

Worst part was it was all "legal".

"I assure you those would have been part of your viewing experience."

Same old excuses when he called them out on their bullshit. "I'm sure."

The suit grunted something beneath his breath and held the glass doors to the main building open for him. The inside was a refreshing change of cool air. Summers never agreed with him.

The human security inside was even tighter. Figured, considerin' there weren't any tank-busters installed within. These types were paranoid about their security in countries that weren't recovering from a national disaster.

The suit led him over to one of the elevators, up near the top floor and off to a nondescript room with a table, two height-adjustable chairs, a potted plant in the corner and a giant mirror perfectly obvious to hide a room behind.

So the room had to be crawling with microscopic cameras and microphones. Feh, amateurs.

The suit pulled out the electronic contract and laid in on the table after both of them sat down. "I hope you prove receptable to our proposition."

Torbjörn picked it up with his good hand and scrolled through it. These things were always the same truckload of legal tricks he didn't deal with. And just the same was the gist of every contract. He gets lots of money, the company gets lots of guns.

The only reason Torbjörn had even wasted time bothering with these vultures, was because they'd situated themselves in the lovely capital of Kurjikstani: Boklovo. Picking over the city like it was just some pile of carrion! He hadn't taken down that titan to see a bunch of opportunists take advantage of the reconstruction.

"Mr. Lindholm, Eagleheart Holdings has been a good thing for the recovering Boklovo. The financial capital we control is used to buy the necessary services for a recovering city. Food, medicine, security. All provided in ample measures and paid for by everyone from the government to local investors."

"Uh-huh."

"Our housing projects have met with a great deal of success. More people in Boklovo go to sleep under a roof than even before that unfortunate incident."

Torbjörn scoffed. Enough firepower to destroy a country was a disaster not an incident. And now Eagleheart was asking for even more firepower.

"But the sad state of affairs is that the General calling himself the "Spirit of Boklovo" has gathered support with a number of radicals following the transition of power."

Same story when all military dictatorships fell.

"They've attacked a number of the new government's installations, along with Eagleheart rebuilding efforts." The man gave an exaggerated sigh. "We want what's best for everyone but all they want is what's best for themselves. Their attacks have grown increasingly desperate and well-armed. Those anti-tank batteries you referred to are a sad necessity."

If the rebels had any tanks they'd need more fuel than a small insurrection could afford or transport. Eagleheart was located in the city center. Unless there was an air drop, tanks weren't a threat. And an air drop wasn't a threat because of the anti-air guns mounted on the roof.

"With your automated turrets aiding us, we believe we can expand our operations even further. We'll reduce the cost in lives and money by supplementing our security operations with your designs." He gave a dishonest smile.

It wasn't a half-bad idea to reduce operating costs in lives with turrets. More firepower to dissuade lighter attackers, and bigger magnets for high-grade explosives than a few squishy people.

But leaving auto turrets all over the place controlled by Eagleheart was just the kind of idiotic patterning that led to the damn Omnics getting an entire army of bastion units.

"With your name attached, the people will feel at ease rather than skeptical."

The savior of Boklovo! Easy way to get themselves an air of reliability and friendliness. Reinforce their image as protector of the masses, bring people on the fence over, and even chip away at the Spirit of Boklovo's power base. Everyone loved a "hero".

Until they become wonderful scapegoats.

"Your proposal is interesting and with plenty of merits," Torbjörn blatantly lied and set down the tablet. "And I appreciate the courtesies in allowing me to retain my equipment." He wasn't gonna run into as shadey an establishment as this without his rivet gun. "But I would need to see more compelling evidence of the dangers my machinery would be protecting against before I could come to a final decision."

Weapons, weapons weapons. It was always weapons. Maybe they'd get his support if they wanted construction equipment or emergency vehicles. But it was always weapons.

"I'm not authorized to run such an operation."

"I was granted a tour, and I expect that to include a tour of front operations. Or some words of the locals you've helped. That could work."

"I… might be able to bring some people in." The suit stood up. "Excuse me for a moment. The tablet can be used to reach me or the front desk in case of an emergency."

Torbjörn nodded at the explanation as the suit left him "alone". One good eye left in the room. How many looked back at him?

He'd sated his curiosity. Write it all up in a report and send it off to the UN and the new government. Then watch as nothing was done.

Overwatch would have busted this crooked operation in half and gotten around to really helping these people. But now these warmongers were gonna keep on spreading their violence because they had their lines and bribes in order.

The lights in the room dimmed. Enough that the tablet screen was emitting more light than them.

They wanted weapons when they could barely keep their lights on. Ridiculous.

The tablet screen changed.

Torbjörn hadn't touched the damn thing.

Did it have a virus? Could tablets get viruses?

Or maybe it was a bomb and this whole damn thing was a trap!

Text scrolled on the screen before he could toss the thing.

_Odin's Eye Sees AlL_

Torbjörn froze.

Each member of the six founding members of Overwatch had specific codes used when contacting one another.

This was _Liao's_.

Ten bloody years since he'd heard so much as a peep from them and it was in an isolated room in a possible hostile company wanting his weapons.

It really was a damn trap.

_This is a trap._

"Obviously!" Torbjörn shouted at the infernal message.

_There is no need to yell._

"You can hear me?"

_No. You're just predictable._

In retrospect, not hearing anything for ten years seemed like a relaxing vacation.

_Cameras disabled. Elevator still running. Meet in lobby._

If this was bad enough to get Liao to surface there was only one name that came to reason why.

Talon.

They'd taken out plenty of Overwatch agents in the past and he wasn't keen to let them add another to their list.

Torbjörn grabbed the tablet with his claw, drew his rivet gun and kicked down the door. The lighting was just as dim outside and not a guard in sight. Liao was doing their job well.

_Hurry up, I need a distraction._

"Keep your camo suit on," Torbjörn growled. Even if it was a straight floor he couldn't see much of it. Which was impressive and all, considering.

He used the tablet as a torch to get him back to the elevator. The floor indicator already had it waiting, and Torbjörn hit the call button. The steel doors opened and flooded the hallway with light. He grinned as he stepped inside and hit the button for the ground floor.

The sound system was still working too, and it gave him one of those obnoxious calming tones nobody liked as the elevator descended.

_Need Distraction._

"Of course you do." For someone invisible, they sure needed lots of help keeping out of sight.

_Ten guards lobby. Unprepared. Heavily armed/armored._

Torbjörn wasn't in the mood to go shooting up a bunch of rent-a-cops. He still had one trick for taking care of that.

He heated up his forge and the complicated machinery embedded within his own body went to work. The stores of metal inside his arm were enough to manufacture a perfectly workable turret. "Now aren't you a beaut," he said, proud at the creation. A few whacks from his forge hammer and the tiny one-barrel expanded into a platform as large as him with deadlier armaments than the infantry training nearby.

It was also the only way he managed to reach the elevator ceiling. Damn short legs. He shot out the lock and hoisted himself into the shaft, the cable slowly stopping itself.

"Distraction incoming," he said to the tablet, unsure if Liao could hear or not.

The doors opened and the turret unleashed the sound of hell! Not much in the way of actual bullets. Blanks were wonderful things sometimes.

A few seconds after opening fire the turret finally started taking some return fire. Not much, the mercs weren't being paid enough or Liao was already whittling them down, but the integrity was starting to falter. Even with the sporadic fire, the turret was worn down, and eventually destroyed.

What a shame.

So he just dropped down another turret. The single-barreled autocannon wasn't much compared to its bigger badder self but they clearly weren't expecting it to suddenly pop up so soon. The return fire was inaccurate and stilled until the same discipline that took out the first came and took down the second.

Rest in peace turret.

"Any time Liao."

_Any time Torbjörn._

Just as confusing as ever!

A few shouts bounced up to him, nothing distinct, which became the problem. Liao wasn't picking these guys off.

After Gabriel's stupid attempt at a coup it shouldn't be a surprise to have more agents going rogue.

The light's in the elevator dimmed, and instead light from the lobby fell in. With the shadows of approaching men.

Torbjörn readied his rivet gun. They weren't taking him down. 'Course, he was in a perfectly functioning elevator. There was always an escape route. If he could climb a cord with his claw.

He looked at his replacement left. Not happening.

It could still clamp an omnic's head off.

He heated up his forge, tossed down a new turret and clamped down on the elevator cable. Shouts from below snapped his attention for a split second. Long enough to notice the turret wasn't firing. And the approaching shadows had vanished—quickly replaced by the sound of a hover engine blaring and the elevator frame being smashed in.

Torbjörn looked down at the tablet: _Get in!_

"Don't have to tell me twice."

He hopped down back into the suddenly lit elevator, scuttled his turret for scrap and hoped in the back of the armored vehicle. (ATAV-126 "Thunder Horse" if he recalled correctly.)

"On board!" he shouted up towards the driver's cab.

"Hold on!" Liao's ever-changing voice modulator shouted back at him in a man's voice.

Torbjörn strapped himself into the closest seat, and set out a new turret to cover the rear should the back doors not close. The elevator dimmed again as the heavy thruming of the AV's engine rocketed them forward.

A hail of bullets sent both ways in concourse.

The AP rounds (nothing else woulda slagged his turret like that) weren't designed to punch through armor this thick. But all the anti-tank guns that were part of the installation sure could.

"Tell me ya did something about their tank defenses!?"

"That was your job!" Liao shouted back, sounding like a young lady.

"Don't you go pinnin' this on me—this was your idea!"

From his limited view out the back he could see the courtyard becoming full of guards and active armored cars.

"Check the tablet!"

Like he was gonna do bloody readin' in the middle of all this!

But Liao hadn't hacked a tablet to make small talk. Torbjörn checked out the device and quickly became familiar with the firing controls to every defense turret on base.

"Aw, this is gonna be marvel of shootin'!"

He realigned all the targeting reticles. If these were ATAV-126s, then the engines would be located on the undercarriage instead of the protruding nose. He centered target on the closest car and opened fire.

The cannon shot nearly punctured his eardrum before he saw the lead car get its lower half torn apart from two separate angles. The anti-tank guns here weren't just for local troubles, they could have put a pounding on a titan!

"Bleedin' hell that kind of ordnance costs enough to feed this country fer a year!"

"Corporate greed at its finest."

"You aren't gettin' guns that big without being a big player beyond a little country like this." He targeted and eliminated another car. The mercs and other vehicles were slowly falling back. Some took potshots at their own guns, but they were too fortified to be scratched. "And you wouldn't be back in action if this wasn't something big. Bigger than a titan. Big enough for you to be raising an army."

"If I had an army would I have done all this?"

Torbjörn spat out the back. "The 'Spirit of Boklovo' and Liao the Ghost in the same country? Doesn't take an engineer who can assemble a machine so large it laughs in the laws of physics face to connect the dots."

Liao paused with a characteristic silence whenever someone caught them off-guard like this. It was a sign Torbjörn had assembled it correctly. "Take out the gate," Liao said like an old man.

"Done." The heavy-duty metal gates were blown apart by a barrage of shells. "Self-destructing the guns."

All the guns went up with their bunkers as the armored car fled the scene. Shouts, sirens, bullets and the occasional explosive trailing behind them.

But they were long gone and nothing Eagleheart had on hand could follow'em.

"They got any air support?" Torbjörn asked.

"No."

"So what the hell was that all about?" he said and shuffled up to the driver door. It slid open and he took spot in the passenger side. "Good to not see you," he said to the invisible driver.

"Those jokes never get old," they said super-sarcastically.

"Then switch off the camo suit."

"No."

Typical. Liao was buried under so many layers of black-ops tape Torbjörn knew people off the street better than Liao. "Any trackers on this car?"

"Disabled, satellite tracking too. They aren't following us electronically."

"Always thinking of everything."

"Including when a dwarf rolls in and ruins my months-long operation."

"Oh, I'm sorry, for not presuming a damn ghost is gonna pop out of the metalwork everywhere I go!"

"Yes."

He rolled his eye. This was going nowhere. "Back on topic: What are you doing here?"

"Eagleheart's been moving into devastated regions and financing military build-ups. Eagleheart is a company under Talon."

"Those guys Gérard beat to bloody pulp?"

Liao paused in a condescending manner. "You do know they were the ones who convinced Gabriel to attack Jack right?"

"Like that's hard to do."

"They blew up the Switzerland HQ."

"And I blew up the Canada HQ."

"Different circumstances: Gabriel actually meant to do it."

Well, he did kind of mean it too but… "Gabriel may have been a sulky brat over the commander position but he wasn't gonna shoot Jack over it."

"He _did_ , I was _there_." The truck took a sharp turn right and headed on a downward slope. "Blackwatch inner-chatter was a coup working for Talon to take out the loyal agents. Things went bad—for everyone."

"Obviously."

"Now six years later and we get this Reaper guy bumping off former Overwatch agents."

"So you're thinking Eagleheart was setting a target on my head for Reaper."

"For Gabriel." Liao's voice contorted as manly seriously as the device allowed. "Mister 'Tries Too Hard Too Look Menacing" runs around with two shotguns."

That was unmistakingly Gabriel alright. No one else was that much of a lunatic. "Alright, he finally lost it. Why didn't you take care of him if he's so damn threatening?"

The second-in-command of Blackwatch went eerily quiet. (Even for them.) "Same reason I couldn't let you get shot back there." Liao (maybe) faced him. "We were a damn team. I didn't think he'd go so far either."

"Thanks." After his own half-assed defense of Gabriel there wasn't much to condemn Liao on. "What's yer plan going forward with these Talon goons?"

"Something." Liao laughed like a clown. "'Sombra's' making it difficult though." And laughed some more. High-pitched nonsense.

Whatever stupid in-joke that meant wasn't relevant. Their car entered into a tunnel, and its own lights the only source of illumination inside. "So you're running your operation underground eh?"

"Was."

 _Oh boy._ "So you're pulling out after one little plan goes awry?

"No, that was a resounding success. The anti-tank guns are offline, their mercs are frightened children and I successfully extracted the Overwatch agent. They'll expect all the guns they wanted to buy are now aiming at them and pull out."

"I wasn't gonna sell them a thing."

"I know that."

"And I would just break out of here if I was captured."

"I know that."

"But they don't."

"I know that."

It was good to give the enigma a tune-up in annoyance for all the annoyances they did. "Alright, what if Eagleheart stays?"

"Then I'll take care of it." Liao stopped the truck slowly. Their seat belt snapped off and the door opened. "You won't be seeing me; but I'll be seeing you."

Another stupid joke and Liao popped outta the car. "Oy you don't set to hop off like that!"

"Consider the truck a gift," they said and vanished into the tunnel.

And there was no catching them. "Great," he mumbled, "just bloody great." Least he got a free truck outta this nonsense.


	4. Old Soldiers

Months of preparation. A year of fighting, infighting and misdirection. Discretion and subtlety. Learning everything about their enemy and moving everything into place. All of it came together today.

Jack Morrison checked, and checked again. The old Blackwatch warehouse had been scrubbed clean by Italy’s government a half-dozen times, the U.N. a dozen, and criminals three times that. It should have been sold off or demolished.

But it stood. Hawk and Talon and who else were keeping it clear because “who knew what crazy Overwatch precautions are in place”.

A perfect place for illegal assets to be stored.

A perfect place to plan a counter strike on one of Hawk’s strongholds.

The offices had been converted into makeshift living quarters back in Blackwatch’s time. Even now, it had running utilities, workable conditions, stocks of food, and plenty of spare beds. Gabriel had prepared it well.

“It’s clear,” Ana said, coming in from a hallway connected to the makeshift kitchen Jack was investigating. “Too little in the way of security. Just some cheap locks. I can’t believe Talon would be this careless.”

“Or they were disabled in advance,” Jack set the truth out.

“How’d you do it?”

“Wasn’t me,” he admitted. “I scouted it out, found it like this more-or-less.”

“I’m sick of walking into traps but…” She looked around the comfy room. Table, chairs, fridge, stove and an oven. “A bit too welcoming for a trap.”

Heavy footsteps that struck with a clang of metal drew attention back to the main floor of the warehouse. Through a window, the both of them saw Reinhardt and Torbjörn strolling in without a care.

“Now this is definitely a trap,” Ana said and hurried out to meet them, with Jack behind her.

“Ana? Jack?” said Reinhardt.

“How’d you two find this place?” Ana asked, sweeping the area with her rifle. The doors, the rafters, windows and catwalks. Everywhere was clear.

Reinhardt answered, “I got a ping from Jack’s Commander signal calling for a meeting here.”

“Same.”

“I didn’t send one.”

They fell into a defensive formation behind Reinhardt’s shield immediately. Torbjörn’s turret went up.

Nothing.

The lights stayed on.

If this was an ambush it was a piss-poor job.

“So afraid of the light, are you?”

Gabriel in his ridiculous Reaper getup dashed between the support pillars for the catwalk. Ana’s rifle went off, but none of the shots landed. That ghost bullshit he floated with.

“Not exactly the best trap here, Gabriel,” Ana remarked, reloading.

“No on here but a Reaper.”

“It’s four-on-one,” Reinhardt announced. “You aren’t man enough to take any of us on in a duel, much less all of us.”

Gabriel chuckled. “Who said I was alone? This warehouse is surrounded by Talon’s best and brightest. Old soldiers do die. Today.”

The code phrase.

“Let’s finish this, Gabriel,” Jack gave the acknowledgement. This might still be a trap. He might be dooming the five of them off for trusting an old friend who’d shot him. “You and me, one-on-one. Winner walks.”

But dammit, they’d saved each other’s heads too many times to want to put bullets in them.

“You’re still a fool Morrison.”

Three guns trained on the head of Gabriel.

Gabriel stepped into view. Hands free of either shotgun. “A fistfight, just like old times.”

Both of them sucked at boxing.

Jack laid his pulse rifle on the ground.

“What, no dramatic throw down?” Gabriel chided him.

“Not all of us have the luxury of spawning guns out of nowhere.”

Gabriel scoffed.

The two of them stretched their muscles. Jack moved from beyond the shield. Past the warnings of his comrades. Past all good sense.

The Commanders put up their dukes…

Stepped in…

Hands moved out…

...into a hug.

Both of them.

“Not stabbing me in the back, eh Gabriel?”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“What the hell is going on here!” Torbjörn, Ana and Reinhardt repeated.

The two commanders broke their embrace and faced their soldiers. “We’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” said Jack.

“You were working with Gabriel on the sly,” said Ana. “How long? Why? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Before Giza,” said Jack.

“Then why did I have to save you then?”

“Keep up appearances,” said Gabriel.

“What about those fights everywhere else!?” Torbjörn shouted in outrage.

“Misdirection.”

“I saved Jack a dozen times from your shells,” Reinhardt announced.

“Really believable misdirection.” Gabriel looked at the doors. “We have about an hour before the assault team starts readying breaching protocol. Shouldn’t be a problem for the five of us.”

Jack had to make a correction first, “Six of us.”

The others were slower on the uptake, but Torbjörn grumbled. “Show yourself Liao.”

The enigmatic sixth member decloaked behind Gabriel, charge pistol aimed still aimed at his head. “Dang,” they said with a child’s voice and lowered the gun. “I still don’t know how you always know where I am, Jack.”

“I just say I know you’re there whenever I enter a room alone and you always show yourself.”

“That can’t be true.”

Jack shrugged.

“Good to see you, Liao,” said Ana.

“Not really,” Torbjörn remarked.

“What have you been up to, old friend?” asked Reinhardt.

Liao’s voice shifted to an even higher pitch, “Trying to get this nonsense of a plan together. Do you know how hard it was to get the lot of you here under Sombra’s and Talon’s noses?”

“Oh,” Gabriel said, “you’re the one who’s been pissing her off. Should have known.”

“Who else?” Liao played some cheer. “Playing some of my work as her own was brilliant though.”

“What are we here for Jack?” Ana asked.

Time to get down to business. “Deal a blow against Talon and get some of the dirt on Overwatch’s name cleared.”

“By making a public attack?” Reinhardt shook his head. “That’s the kind of thing that dragged Overwatch down in the first place.”

“Yeah, because we’re all shining beacons of law-abiding here,” Gabriel pointed out.

“More than you.”

“Look,” said Jack, “hear the plan out and decide for yourselves.” No one raised any objections to that. “There’s a skyscrapper owned by one of Talon’s affiliates that’s going to host a meeting of some of Hawk’s biggest players. Heavy security—illegal security. Plenty of incriminating files to send the higher-ups to prison until the heat death of the universe. We do this hard, we do this fast and we can do some good. Real good. Not just taking down a gang here and there. These are major players on a global scale involved in every crime known to man and omnic. Weapons smuggling, illegal drugs, human trafficking and that’s on the light end of things. They’re too rooted—too connected for proper channels to take them down. A little bad to do a whole lotta good. That’s what being a soldier’s all about. That’s what Overwatch was formed to be. I fought ‘til my name was smeared in mud and I’ll keep fighting no matter how much shit gets thrown on me.” Old habits died hard. “Are you in?”

“I always was,” Gabriel was quickest to respond.

Liao shrugged, and their voice came in with a thick italian accent tinged feminine, “I’m here, aren’t I?”

The easy ones were out of the way…

“That wasn’t your best speech,” said Reinhardt.

“I’m out of practice.”

Torbjörn sighed. “How’re the excess casualties looking?”

“Security’s being provided by former Blackwatch and Talon loyalists,” Gabriel informed him. “No-nothing civs are few and far between. Breach team’s pure pay-to-kill mercenaries.”

Torbjörn grumbled, “Can’t believe I’m listenin’ to this fool,” under his breath. “What, do they have a big neon sign sayin’ there’s an evil meeting today?”

“The only people there without security clearance are a couple janitors.”

“This sounds like a trap,” Ana stated.

“They’ve got the files of you and him breaking into that drug lab stored in there.”

“I retired to get away from this kind of excitement.”

“You’re back now,” said Jack.

“I am.” Ana nodded. “If you aren’t on the level Gabriel you aren’t making it out of this alive.”

“I look forward to it.”

Four-to-two now. “Torbjörn, Reinhardt?” Jack asked.

“I don’t like this,” Reinhardt bellowed. “After everything he’s done, you’re willing to trust him?”

Everything he’s done was exactly why. “Yes.”

“I’m quivering with friendship,” Gabriel snidely said.

Reinhardt sent the man in black a hard glare. “And this plan—this is no group of misguided youths. Even if we succeed, we’ll still be lambasted as the villains if they’re as connected as you’re presuming.”

Jack nodded. “I’m well aware. But we don’t do this job for praise. We do it to save lives and do some good.”

“And get your name clear,” Gabriel smacked his back. “Our names clear.”

“Always the glory for you, Gabriel,” Ana chided him. “That’s why it was so easy to believe you went so far.”

“This isn’t the time for an ethics debate,” Gabriel shook his head.

“That kind of dismissive attitude is what got us into this in the first place,” Reinhardt pointed out. “That arrogance; it’s no wonder public opinion turned so fast.”

“Oh, that?” Liao chimed in sounding like Mei. “Hawk instigated it.”

“What!?”

Liao paused a moment. Their voice now coming out as Angela’s, “What? You were all aware, right…?”

“I was busy being dead,” Jack said.

“I was worse,” Gabriel said.

“Retired,” Ana said.

“Forced retirement,” Reinhardt added.

So all eyes turned to Torbjörn. “What?” he replied. “I build things, I’m not into politics.”

Liao shook their head with barely disguised disgust. Their voice sharply dove into a deep-voiced man’s, “We weren’t popular, but other organizations have survived worst pre and post Omnic Crisis. Hawk wanted us gone because they couldn’t slip anyone into our ranks. Until Blackwatch’s stupidity that is.”

“Why didn’t you stop it then,” Gabriel accused him.

“Because you two got in your giant pissing match before I could find the source. This isn’t ametuer hour here, this is a group involved from every low to every high. ‘Hawk’, ‘Talon’, these are just names they’re using this generation. They’re old.”

Gabriel scoffed. “This is some conspiracy theory nonsense.”

“Nonsense doesn’t mean it's fake.” Liao’s voice pitched upwards for their next words. “We aren’t putting a stop to them today, no way. Maybe ever.”

“What’s the point then!?” a soured Torbjörn questioned. “If we aren’t takin’ these bastards down they’re gonna be comin’ right back after us.”

“You don’t stop fighting for a cause just because there’s no end in sight,” Jack preached. “World’s filled with violence, hunger, homelessness and worse. The end of these is no more in sight than it was a hundred years ago. But people keep on trying. They make their difference, even if they aren’t the ones to put an end to it.”

He looked at Reinhardt. “Balderich and his men fought to their deaths on the hope they’d bought enough time. They had no guarantees—only their resolve.”

At Torbjörn. “You’ve got family. I understand that. But my family got hurt by these bastards so I’m sure gonna do my best to get some justice and make damn sure Hawk can’t harm them ever again.”

Ana. “I once told Fareeha that you’d be proud of her. She said I didn’t know you very well. Guess she was right.” The retirement still stung in some ways. “But you came back to save my old ass. Things aren’t so hopeless when you’re here.”

Liao. “Your file was more ink than paper. I only found a little officially and it wasn’t pretty. Yet then and how you still fought. Didn’t matter how hard the government tried to crack down on you, you kept fighting.”

Gabriel. “We’ve had our problems over the years—plenty of’em. Right here, right now I need you for this and you need me.”

He looked over everyone. “When we hit that first omnium we were moving on a wing and a prayer. Didn’t think about the end in sight then. Then we hit the next, and the next. Only when the last omnium was in our crosshairs did ending the war actually feel like a possibility. Right now, it doesn’t look like we can put an end to this. Maybe it’ll be the next generation. Maybe it’ll be the next, maybe it’ll never happen. But putting down the bad guys has always been the job and I intend to do it.”

The speech went over them all. Gave’em something to think about.

“If you make another speech, I’m out,” said Gabriel.

“Same,” said Liao.

“You didn’t even know Balderich,” said Reinhardt.

Jack replied, “Met him once at a meeting, seemed nice.”

“A man worth following!” Reinhardt bellowed. “And so are you. What is more knightly than charging into uncertainty against an overwhelming enemy?”

“Cutting down uppity peasants,” Liao chipped in. Voice still that deep-toned man.

“You!”

Those two got into a quick debate on the morals and ethics of chivalry.

“Ana, Torbjörn?”

Ana sighed. “We’ve come too far to turn back now. Besides,” she glanced between him and Gabriel, “I’m looking forward to you two working together again.”

Jack nodded, and faced the final undecided founder. “And you Torbjörn?”

The old engineer growled. “I don’t like it. Even if we succeed, somehow don’t get any blowback on us, how much damage is taking them out gonna cause? I might buy food from one of their subsidiaries.”

“Liao, Gabe?”

Liao broke off their argument. “None of the corporations in your hometown are connected to Hawk from what I’ve discerned.”

“If they wanted your families they could have taken them at any time,” Gabe went darker. “Even through your defenses.”

Liao’s voice finally shifted. A huffing, panicked man’s now. “No surveillance—none! Tabs sure: You were in Egypt, Britain or China. Nothing else. Didn’t want anyone spotting it—getting ideas. They knew it isn’t worth the risk rousing ire. Talon? Sure, misdirect, attack, like always.”

“How many of my jobs have they paid for?”

“Well over half.”

“Now that tears it!” Torbjörn stomped. “I’m not letting them use my tech for their own ends!”

Six for six. Jack looked over the rest of the strike team with a swell of pride. “Let’s show Hawk how these old soldiers make war.”


	5. Never Die

**Never Die**

Ready and willing, time to get planning.

“Liao,” said Gabriel, “bust out a holo-map projector, I’ve got a data stick with our target on it.”

Liao’s voice snapped into a mimic of Gabriel’s. “What makes you think I’ve got one?”

“You always have one.”

“Not this time.”

“You’d rather be labeled incompetent than have me be right?”

Liao paused at the insinuation. “What if it’s a virus-filled trick?”

“Then enjoy the dancing nudes.”

A few poorly kept chuckles came out for that. “Funny Reyes is better Reyes,” said Reinhardt.

“Do it or put your foot down we’re wasting time.”

“Fine,” Liao relented. They pulled out a palm-sized silver disc and carefully left it on the floor. Gabriel bent over and stuck a nail-sized stick into one of the ports. A few seconds later a city block filled the air and on skyscraper in particular lit up.

It was about as generic and nondescript as a skyscraper got. There wasn’t even a company logo adorning it. Perfect for an organization that didn’t want attention.

“This,” said Gabriel, “is the Roost. Beyond them going obnoxiously all-in on their birds motif, it doesn’t really live up to the name.” Gabriel tapped on the roof and the image focused in. “It’s only got a single helipad for traffic, but it’s pretty clear it’s large enough to hold more. This,” he tapped on the top structure, “is both a cargo elevator, personal elevator and staircase. But,” he pulled off the outer shell of the building, “the staircase only goes to the top five floors. The elevators don’t. If there’s any heavy-duty equipment protecting those floors it’s either hold or put together up there, so we shouldn’t be expecting any Omnic juggernauts.”

“Which means we should,” Jack cut in. “Misdirection’s been how they’ve played their hand so completely reconstructing their building after putting in something big and bad is how they’ll do it.”

“The top floor is a security floor, filled to the brim with Talon loyalists. The four below that are for the executives we’re here to nap. They’re all aquiver with anticipation for your heads on a platter and will be waiting in the board room located in the middle.”  
Torbjörn grunted. “What’s to keep’em kaput while we got knocking in from below? Unless you got wings stashed around here?”

“I’ve inserted one of Sombra’s programs into their network. When the security office calls for extraction it’ll intercept the message and deliver an en route notice back to the interior, leaving the exit vehicle completely uninformed. It’ll go live at the same time the breach team hits us and ends in an hour. We’ve got ‘til six sharp to get this done.”

“What if they try some old-fashioned radio to get through?”

“They don’t have anything so retrograde installed.”

Torbjörn shook his head. “Fine, what if they have carrier pigeons or some other damn way to get a call out?”

“Move those stubby legs as fast as they can go then.”

“Why I outta—!”

“Knock it off!” Jack stepped between the two of them. “”Save the sniping for Talon.” He looked back at Gabriel. “They didn’t come this far by leaving their one escape route with no failsafes. They’ll have something else, so we need to set up a contingency of our own.” he looked back at Torbjörn. “Can you set up a SAM turret?”

“I’m not gonna blow up something in the middle of a city!”

“Didn’t say you would, but between you and Liao, you can create enough of a missile spoof to fool their trackers and keep the jumpship away in fear.”

Torbjörn mused on the idea. “It could work… if there was a good vantage point to set it up on… Which there isn’t. If we’re so pressed for time we don’t have enough to scale a building that’ll just cover one approach.”

Liao’s voice switched to the Ironclad man’s. “We can rig up a drone to fly up top of the Roost and spin the signal we need.” They looked over at Gabriel. “If there’s nothing on the roof that’ll stop it.”

In response he highlighted guard positions, patrol routes and security cameras covering the roof. But the top of the staircase building was a blind spot for the drone to sit down on.

While those two got to work setting it up, Gabe continued:

“There’s also a security floor right beneath the executive floors and then…” Gabe sped the picture down through empty floor after empty floor. “Nothing. 90% of the building is just void of human workplaces. All the building standards are available but other than maintenance work no one occupies these floors.”

“You’d think someone would have noticed that, by now,” said Ana.

“No one cares. Parking’s underground and everyone but the janitors are on Hawk’s payroll.” He pushed down to occupied floors again. “The top floor of bottom rungs is the primary security hub. This is where the whole building’s security measures are coordinated. Below that is a security floor. We have to clear security floor to get to the hub to get to the elevator that takes us to the security floor up above. There is no good reason for this waste-of-time and I imagine it annoys they hell out of any Hawk overlord that has to come in by foot.”

“It’ll slow our advance considerably, and all those tight corners will be lousy for my range.”

Jack crocked his head. “Can they lock down the elevators from up above? Or anywhere?”

“The Executives have a highest-priority override over any of the security divisions. My access will get us a few floors up before we have to start scaling it by hand.”

Reinhardt snorted in disgust. “There’s no way any flimsy elevator ladder could handle me.”

“I’m not exactly keen on climbing either,” Torbjörn added.

“The maintenance ladders are heavy duty reinforced to handle any emergency evacuation in case of necessary evacuation. The whole building’s far more durable than it looks.” Gabriel pinpointed numerous pillars and strongpoints in the building’s superstructure. “It’s got light-mass shielding generators at numerous load bearing sections to double down on protecting vital structural weakpoints. This place could withstand a tactical nuclear strike.”

“Just like an omnium,” Ana pointed out.

Liao came in mimicking Ana’s voice now. “To no one’s surprise—I hope—Hawk had a talon in Omnica’s undertakings too.”

“Feh,” Torbjörn said, “next yer gonna be sayin’ they’re keepin’ aliens under wraps.”

“No, that’s us.” Some sort of ancient TV alien theme tune rang out from somewhere on Liao’s suit.

“Regardless of how many pies they’ve got their fingers in we’ve got a job to do.” Keeping everyone on topic was always his least favorite part of these plans.

“There are no extraneous defenses located within the elevator shaft so we aren’t gonna be climbing through electric webbing and gun turrets like the L.A. omnium. Maybe a few guns at the top but it’ll be a smooth, if long climb.”

“Fifty floors won’t be smooth.” Great shape for their ages they were that was still hell on anyone half their age. “You two will have to get the elevator as far up as we can manage.”

“Always the easy jobs,” said Liao.

Torbjörn held his reply a moment. “I might be able to rig up an emergency generator. I can cut the breaks, Liao can circumvent the kill command.”

“And if they cut the cable there’s nothing stopping us from taking a fifty floor plunge to our deaths.”

“The cable’s got quadruple back ups,” Gabriel zoomed in. “Won’t be able to scratch all the breaks either, they’re recurved into the wall at points.”

“Then it’ll be slow going, but still faster than climbing.”

Jack nodded. “That’s the best we’re gonna get here. Where’s our entrance point?”

Gabriel switched view towards, “The front door.”

“Exactly how it should be!” Reinhardt exclaimed.

“Stupid?” said Liao with Reinhardt’s voice.

“Straight to the point. A head-on challenge to the low-lifes living the high life.”

“It also has the least security,” said Gabriel. “Their defensive holdouts are concentrated on the security hub and protecting the executives, not the lower floors. There’s still fifty men guarding it, but that’s a lot less than the hundred in the parking area.”

“What’s the transfer time?” Jack asked.

“Their security protocols will work against them, so I’d estimate a fifteen minute redeployment for initial reinforcements and five minutes per additional squad. If we can work our way up to the security hub before then we can strangle them out completely.”

“What kind of hardware will they be running?”

“The lower ranks will be kitted out with Diamondback Armor from Secretary Private Security Consultants and Defense Contracting.”

Jack shook his head at the overly long name. “How does that match their bird theme?”

“Secretary Bird,” said Liao.

“Right, sure; firearms?”

“First wave will be stun tasers from Tesla-dan. Even the big guy will be feeling those volts.”

Reinhardt barked a laugh. “Let them try!”

“Once they see we mean business they’ll switch to Light Pulse Rifles and Pulse Light Rifles for maximum confusion factor. The security hub comes equipped with Russian-made omnic-wrecker shotguns. Full auto and enough shells to shoot out an outline of a truck but enough recoil to snap an arm in half. They’ll bust’em out when they get desperate.”

Wrecked arm was better than wrecked life. That was Russia for you. “The top floor guards will have worse.”

“Shit so cutting-edge it makes my get-up look like a stuffed animal. Rifles with self-replicating ammo supplies, anti-omnic EMP bolts that’ll fry his shield in a single shot, handgun RPGs with 9mm-sized rounds that hit harder than your helix rockets. I don’t even know half the shit they have up there because it’s handled entirely within family circles. Nothing but pure Hawk up there.”

One of Angela’s lectures about violence came and went through Jack’s mind. “Personal defenses?”

“Expect an unholy combination between Germany’s next generation Crusader armors and the omnic dreadnaughts.”

Jack smirked. To everyone else’s bewilderment.

“Long odds, what else is new? We had less intel hitting our first omnium and came out of that fine.”

“Really?” Torbjörn held up his robot claw.

“You lost that well after Null Sector’s Uprising. I’m not that senile.”

“Yet.”  
That’s how it’s gonna be, huh? “Alright, say it.”

“What if this isn’t on the level? And I ain’t sayin’ he’s not warnin’ us of big guns, but what if the whole thing’s a giant demolition trap? Or just some company building filled with a bunch of no-nothing civs? Our great big comeback could be plastered with dead bodies of innocent people.”

“There’s no guarantee even if Gabriel’s telling the truth he hasn’t been made,” Ana added. “This could be a double set-up. Blackwatch’s existence buried us once already, but every founding member going rogue and attacking a civilian facility? Winston’s recall would be crushed by the full force of the UN.”

“My word’s only as good as you let it,” said Gabriel, crossing his arms. “But every use of my name on lips and online as it as the goddamn villain and Hawk thinks the same because I’ve given them no reason to think otherwise. Until now, you all thought the same damn thing. We wouldn’t be having this conversation if you thought otherwise.” Gabriel scoffed in disgust. “I’ve spent five years undercover while the rest of you were on your laurels. They’ve no reason to suspect me beyond general paranoia.”

Reinhardt said, “You and that outfit aren’t particularly subtle.”

“And who’s fault is it I got put in charge of the subtle stuff?”

“This is not the time for your inferiority complex, Gabriel,” Ana chided him.

“I’m the one with more information than any of you,” he snapped back. “If I hadn’t been setting off alarms worldwide where the hell would any of you been other than sitting in retirement? Even you, Jack.”

“You’re right,” Jack answered. To the surprise of everyone. “He is right. He’s done more to bring us here than anyone.”

“‘Bout damn time I got the recognition I deserve.”

“But we wouldn’t be here if our dumb asses hadn’t gotten into a fight. We both screwed the pooch on this one, this is just setting things straight.”

Gabriel grunted. “Yeah, set things straight. When we’re done with this.”

It wouldn’t be easy. Hell, it’d be harder than this. Wasn’t gonna stop’em. “Let’s get back on topic.”

Gabriel nodded and zoomed in on the security hub floor. “The doors leading to the elevator up and the server hub are both operated in a cascade fashion. They only open from the inside, no keys or access from outside.”

“What kinda nonsense is that?” Torbjörn grunted. “That’s a fire hazard if I ever seen one! This building’s not up to code.”

“So the building is occupied 24-7,” said Ana.

“It’s got enough sensors that neither Sombra or Liao’s tricks will sneak in. That’s why we’re doing this the brute force way,” said Gabriel.

“Much as my hammer could use a workout, you already said the building’s sturdy enough to withstand a nuclear strike.”

“Funny thing is, they’re packing a whole lotta hardware to protect the place that can be used to tear it down.”

“And you want me to override the DNA locks?” said Liao in some other man’s voice. “What about self-destruct protocols?”

Gabriel shook his head. “Hawk’s fanatics aren’t on the suicide-bomb scale of lunacy.”

Liao tapped their foot for a moment. “Right, yeah, I can do it then.” They brought out a small black box. “Any excuse to bust out this baby.”

“And that is?”

“DNA copier. Perfect for framing people you don’t like.”

“What? Goddammit you bastard is that why I had to deal with that stupid Taco Bell incident? Because I ate your damn burrito?”

“It was clearly marked!”

“In chinese! I thought it was some new promotion.”

“Who steals another person’s food like that!?”

“I was hungry! I left money!”

“Then use that money to buy your own damn food!”

“We were in Switzerland! I didn’t know any mexican restaurants were in Switzerland!”

“The internet exists! Google it!”

This earned irritated looks from everyone. “Cut this shit out,” Jack shot in. “This is the third dumbest argument we’ve ever had.”

“Hey,” said Liao, “I said corpses didn’t decay just to piss him off—I didn’t mean it.”

“Who can tell with you,” said Gabriel.

“Right back at you.”

Ana sighed. “Sometimes it is a wonder we get anything done at all.”

“Ahhh, reminds me of our glory days,” said Reinhardt.

Ana shifted at the words. “Not quite.”

Yeah, something wasn’t quite there. Yet. “We’ll have plenty of bullets and similar flying at our heads soon enough. What’s next?”

“We have two primary targets,” said Gabriel. “Hawk’s server hub in the building and the twelve conference members. Their servers are kept physically isolated from the rest of the floor and the doors can only be accessed with a code from the executive floor. But unlike the security doors which are on a completely singular lines, this one can be reached from outside, so Liao can get in and run an open signal in. There’s not gonna be any security inside, but the room’s kept absolutely frigid to combat heat generation because the ventilation has been minimized so no microdrones sneak in. That’s not even including the EM stripes that’ll fry any electronics brought in or out.”

Liao tapped one of their gadgets. “All glory to a hard suit.”

“The servers contain Hawk’s entire illustrious history and are not connected to the internet. Any data to be put into their database has to be downloaded and run through a thorough search before being integrated. Sombra found out the hard way she couldn’t hack in because of this.”

“I’m better than her on any day ending with ‘eff.’”

That was so ridiculous no one responded. “Who’re are the big money targets up above?”

The image of the building was replaced with mugshots of 12 different people. Eight men of various ethnicities and ages, three women, and even an omnic. “Seven of them are heads of various Hawk subsidiaries.” Red bars popped up under six of the men and the argentinian woman. “These three are from Hawk’s less-than-legal services.” Green bars showed under the remaining two women and the polish man. “The omnic claims to be from the Shambali monks, but I have my doubts. Now this guy,” a blue bar appeared beyond as generic a white man’s face could be, “Is the head of this building. Rupert Vanderhawk. He’s part of so-called Hawk royalty and knows more about their hierarchy than anything in the servers. He’s our primary grab target, the rest are nice bonuses.”

“A man named like that won’t break easy,” Reinhardt stated.

“Then good thing we have someone adept at breaking fingers.”

Ana scoffed at the needless threat of torture. “I can mix up something from my darts to get him talking.”

“If we want to be boring, sure.”

“What about the omnic?” Jack asked.

“Remember when we took out the India Omnium?”

That operation was a disaster from start to finish. “Much as I don’t like to, yeah. Is he one of the surviving nagas?” That late in the war the omniums’ started to create new omnics based on local culture as shock troops. Human history had its share of crazy warriors. And that wasn’t even the worst they found there…

“Worse: I think it’s the Shiva avatar.”

Just had to tempt fate thinking about the worst damn thing that could happen.

“I’m sorry,” said Torbjörn, “I musta misheard you. Not surprising, my hearin’s not what it’s used to be what with the aging and constant metalwork and you being a lying asshole but I clearly just heard the words ‘Shiva avatar’ come out from behind that stupid-looking mask of yours.”

“One more crack about my appearance and you’re gonna be a lot shorter.”

“The same Shiva avatar that turned its omnium into a walking fortress that walked through half the Indian army. That nearly split the subcontinent in half from its footsteps not even counting more guns than the United States. That took us and every active duty Gurkha to take down and still suffered 98% casualties. The one we nuked, EMPed and then melted into slag. That Shiva avatar. Somehow now fit into a body small enough to walk into a typical human office.”

And then Torbjörn flew into a few minutes of swedish curses. He wasn’t the only one, even if he was the loudest by far.

“Seeing as how our odds are now hopeless, can we get off now?” said Liao.

“The only thing stopping you is knowing that thing is free and loose,” Gabriel retorted. “This is as vulnerable as it’s gonna get.”

“It takes a building to house the ludicrous amounts of processing power the God A.I.’s run off of and—oh. Oh. They can’t even partition off a fraction of their electro-cortex but they can run any body within the omnium as a full extension of themselves. All those floors are empty because they contain Shiva’s servers!”

“I am not walking into another damn omnium!” Torbjörn complained.

Reinhardt nodded along with him. “I am all for overcoming overwhelming odds but these are a bit much for we few.”

Ana found herself in agreement. “Why would Hawk risk such an arrangement?”

“Because they have multiple kill switches enabled,” said Gabriel. “All of them can be accessed from the security hub easily. If Shiva went rogue they wanted every man they have to be in a position to kill it.”

“It doesn’t answer why they’re letting it continue, what does it offer them?”

“It lets them directly control and influence omnics in ‘influential’ positions.”

Jack glowered at the realization. “Serbia…”

“Among many.”

“Sounds ta me,” said Torbjörn, “we’d best be leveling the building and take no chances.”

“We don’t have the resources for a controlled implosion,” said Ana. “Even with any hypothetical detonators to ensure Shiva’s cooperation.”

There was something else though. “How are you certain it is Shiva?” Jack asked.

“Process of elimination,” Gabriel replied. “The ones publicly known intact I confirmed still deactivated and they’re watched too closely by UN and local security. Like that incident with Anubis and Helix.”

Ana shifted her weight at the notice.

“We personally confirmed the destruction of the other half. Shiva and Thor are the only two we didn’t have absolute confirmation on their destruction.”

“In what world is a nuclear detonation not an absolute confirmation!?” Torbjörn steamed.

“It was a low-yield tactical strike,” Jack clarified. “Which is why we had to start dropping the EMPs once it cleared out the shielding. Then melted down what’s left. It’s possible we missed something while we geared up in the rad suits.”

“Anything flyin’ or drivin’ wouldn’t be able to escape the perimeter. We had that area on complete lockdown and overwatch with satellites.”

Gabriel tapped the ground with his foot. “But we didn’t have anything checking out underground.”

“Not with how unstable the fault lines were. Any sort of tunnelin’ machine woulda been buried in a cave-in.”

“And the other option sank into the sea. One we know was mobile, the other wasn’t. I put my money on what’s more likely,” said Gabriel.

Thor’s omnium was too much of a mess to sift through on the seafloor but it was a 99% certainty it was gone. Jack said, “The building doesn’t have the manufacturing capabilities of an omnium, but Hawk’s certainly got enough infrastructure to construct any drones a God A.I. could schematic up. This makes the mission more vital than ever.”

“Vital enough to get some back-up?” said Torbjörn. “In the form of guns, tanks, airships, and giant piloted mechs?”

Not quite. “We get the evidence we need we’ll get all that and more.”

“Not later—now!”

“I agree,” said Reinhardt. “I’m up for any worthy cause but foolhardy charges are less in my standard these days.”

“An omnium’s a bit beyond our gear at the moment,” Ana added. “Even if we appropriate the guard equipment we’ll have to contend with unfamiliar weaponry in a highly contested environment. We’ll have limited ammo and no breaching equipment.”

“The breaching charges are coming to us,” said Gabriel.

We’re starting to sound like a gang of thieves. Well, Jack looked over his heavy pulse rifle, that’s close enough by this point.

“There’s no guarantee they’ll have all the charges we’ll need,” Ana pointed out. “They’ll have enough to breach this building, maybe twice over if they’re paranoid, but not nearly enough for what we’re expecting to need.”

“There’s no armories in that building either,” said Torbjörn.

Liao clapped their hands. Their voice came out in a deep, bombtastic baritone. “Ladies, Gentlemen, I have the solution to all your problems.” They tapped one of their gadgets and the floor rumbled—split in two and opened up a hole. The screech of machinery echoed up and soon after a Hover Armored Personnel Carrier was lifted up. “Fully stocked with everything needed to conduct a floor-by-floor takeover of a hundred floor building.”

“How the hell did you do this?” Gabriel spat out.

“I am a being of many talents.”

“No, this is magic. This building doesn’t have a sub basement or cargo elevator. This was installed after Overwatch was decommissioned and under Hawk’s eyes.”

“Isn’t that the ATAV we took from Eagleheart?” Torbjörn asked. “You abandoned that thing!”

Obnoxious laughter erupted from Liao’s speakers. “Does the ‘why’ matter? We have the means, now.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” said Jack. He climbed into the back of the ATAV. It was filled to regulation capacity with ammo, fuel and explosives. “Pulse Rounds are expensive, how did you afford enough to outfit a brigade?”

“How do you never run out of ammo in the first place?”

Defunct and off-the-grid Overwatch facilities. Plus a few old army contacts. “It isn’t just my ammo. You’ve got shells for Gabriel in here.”

“I don’t need your pity,” the man himself said.

“Do we need another case of the ‘whys’ when the ‘can do’ can be?”

The hell did that even mean? “No, he’s right, we’ve got what we need to take Hawk down and the clock’s ticking. Let’s get this started. Pile in.”

“It’s my time to drive!” Liao loudly exclaimed.

“Oh no,” Torbjörn put his foot down, “not after the last time you drove.”

“I’m your pilot.”

“So what!? I ain’t goin’ anywhere with you drivin’!”

Did everything have to be petty bickering?

“Oh, let me have a turn at the wheel!” Reinhardt put in. “I’ll get us there in no time!”

“You couldn’t even fit in the cab,” Gabriel pointed out. “You’ll barely fit in the back.”

“Bah, and I take it you’re volunteering? No one will agree to that. You might just drive us off a cliff.”

Gabriel shrugged. “You’d prefer the cyclops brigade?”

“Jack drives,” said Ana.

Like there was any doubt. “Saddle up people, we’re going bird hunting.”

“Aren’t hawks on the endangered species list?” Reinhardt questioned.

Unbelieveable.

“There aren’t any hawks in this corner of the world,” said Liao, switching into a type of gentle teaching voice. “Well, not anymore.”

Reinhardt solemnly nodded his head. “‘Tis always the smallest ones who suffer.”

“Hold yer horses a minutes,” Torbjörn interjected. “There’s one more important thing to get cleared up.” He glared at Gabriel, and beneath that skull-white mask Gabriel stared back. “You said you never liked us,” Torbjörn pointed at himself and Reinhardt.

It took a full, awkward minute before Gabriel answered, “...seriously?”

“Serious as I was when I proposed. I demand an apology or I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Aye, that’s right,” Reinhardt agreed.

“This isn’t the time for bullshit nonsense like this.”

“It’s the perfect time!” Torbjörn steamed. “Is a little apology too hard for the big bad Reaper? Is keeping your stupid ‘image’ more important than taking down Hawk?”

“You’re the one holding the situation hostage so don’t you dare accuse me of being petty.”

“An ‘I’m sorry,’ is a lot less words,” said Torbjörn.

“We’re waiting,” Reinhardt said and crossed his arms.

Gabriel stared at Jack. “Are you gonna let them get away with this?”

Jack just shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I? I think a small apology is in order.”

Gabriel looked at Ana and Liao but there was no support there either.

“Fine,” Gabriel said with all the enthusiasm of a child being dragged to the dentist’s. “I am sorry. When I said ‘I never liked you’ I was lying to keep up my facade.”

Torbjörn cracked a grin and nudged Reinhardt with his elbow. “I got him to apologize.”

“There’s another matter to discuss,” said Ana.

“I’m not apologizing to him.” Gabriel spat in Jack’s direction.

“I wouldn’t expect it, no.” She sadly shook her head. “It’s about that outfit of yours.”

“You’ve see what I look like under this get-up and want more?”

“No, you’re changing out of that black scheme and into proper Overwatch blue.”

Gabriel glanced at Torbjörn, Reinhardt and Liao. “They’re not wearing blue.” Liao tapped a belt button and suddenly was. “That’s still an even split.” Liao tapped a different button and two crates dropped from the ceiling. A hole in the side of each showing Torbjörn and Reinhardt Overwatch colors. “Figures. Alright, let’s do this, all six of us in proper kit.” And two more crates fell down with Jack and Ana’s gear.

“Suit up people!”

 


End file.
